Counting the Days... And a Weasel.

Last ski season, I think I got in about 25 days. Mostly at Copper and Aspen area, with a few days at Winter Park and Crested Butte.

After next Monday, I will have 14 days. I'm trying to do the math. Am I on track for another 25 days? I think that 25 days is respectable, what with a full time job, graduate courses, a flock of chickens to which to tend, and an otherwise booming (maybe a step below booming) social life. Right?

These are my ski days so far this year. I'm very excited about visiting Scott in Alta, UT this weekend for a 3-day powderfest.

1. Copper 12/6/08
2. Winter Park 12/14/08
3. Snowmass 12/25/08
4. Copper 12/27/08
5. Copper 1/3/09
6. Copper 1/4/09
7. Copper 1/11/09
8. Snowmass 1/17/09
9. Copper 1/25/09
10. Snowmass 2/7/09
11. Highlands 2/8/09
12. 13. 14. Alta woohoo

Why Copper so much, you ask? Because it's an all around good time, you can ski the entire mountain for days on end and be constantly entertained, there are challenging big mountain runs, powder stashes and endless bump runs, and you know there's more to discover, you just need to hike a little longer. And it seems to weed out some of the Front Range crows.

We skied Aspen last weekend, no new snow (the reported snow was delayed every day for 4 days, and it finally started snowing at 2 p.m. on Sunday), but we were able to find some pretty fun runs up high, and hidden powder in the trees. We hiked the Highlands Bowl on Sunday. A 45 minute hike and the best run of the day. We hiked up the top of that ridge in the picture above (from much further below), and skied down on skier's right, to the left. These pictures come up dark, which is frustrating.

But the BEST PART OF THE WEEKEND was our encounter with a very special mountain species I'd like to call the long-tailed weasel, or ermine. Wildlife biologists also call it that. Steve and I were skiing down the the Hanging Valley headwall on Snowmass (sidenote - I measured the slope angle of the run with my trusty iPhone, which was about 48 degrees) and got down to a wooded area. Suddenly, Waldo the long-tailed weasel, or ermine, comes flying out of a tree bank and across the slope headed for a another tree. But wait! He has a prisoner! Waldo the long-tailed weasel, or ermine, was carrying a dead bird in its mouth to stash away! But who are those fools lurking in the background? Waldo the long-tailed weasel, or ermine, is scared. He freezes. Intruders! How dare they enter my dead-bird lair! He races back to the tree bank, but No! Waldo the long-tailed weasel, or ermine, drops his bird! He must retrieve it! And before those dirty scoundrels have restored by peace with their departure! Ah ha, not too fast, Waldo the long-tailed weasel, or ermine, we thought. We knew he was hiding in the bank, and needed to get his bird back. But we wanted some free wildlife entertainment. So we skied slowly to the tree, and just waited quietly. After 30 seconds, Waldo the long-tailed weasel, or ermine, pokes his head out on each side of the tree, frenetically, as if resigning to the fact that we are there, and mustering up his speed to reclaim his fowl and be on his way. He creeps toward us, then jets away, creeps toward us, then jets away again. I'm loving this. Not to demean Waldo the long-tailed weasel, or ermine, but he's very cute. And spry. So finally he shoots back toward his bird, and picks it up, and drops it in his hole, wherever that may be. And he emerges from the tree bank again, birdless, and ran back up the hill. It was very exciting.

The picture is what he (or she, I guess) looked like. At first, we thought it was a ferret, but at lunch, we couldn't find anything about a ferret of that coloring on the internet (courtesy of iPhones). Then Steve thought it was perhaps a mink, so he googled Aspen mink. And of course, the first 100 google entries were advertisements for mink coats in Aspen. Then, we visited the Wapiti Wildlife Center at the top of Elk Camp (which I would highly recommend, next time you're skiing snowmass - awesome wildlife info), and discovered that it was a long-tailed weasel, or ermine. My next post is going to be about the long-tailed weasel, or ermine. And I'd like to give a big shout out to Waldo, long-tailed weasel, or ermine.

Winter Weekend

I'm looking forward to this weekend. The weather's back to normal January temps. Tonight, Schivonne, Kris and I are going to the Winter Brew Fest in Denver. A chance to taste seasonal beers and try new things. I really love tasting new beers, especially in small doses, where you can just move on. I think around 25-27 breweries will be there. Some of my favorites are Avery, of course, Deschutes, Rogue, and Stone. I love most microbreweries, actually, but I am not usually a huge fan of their high production/money maker beers. An example would be Fat Tire. Tastes gross. I prefer their small batches that might not make as much money, but that experiment with different flavors and represent the craft of brewing.

Steve gets back to Las Vegas tonight, so that'll be good way to finish the evening!

I'm not sure what we'll do tomorrow. I'm sure we'll spend the day doing something either productive or fun, or both, together. If it doesn't snow, I'd like to either mountain bike Marshall Mesa, maybe go for a hike locally, go climbing, or even go snow shoeing up in Rocky Mountain National Park. I went running yesterday pretty high up, and there was still snow on the ground, despite four days of 60+ temps. So there might be too much snow to hike. I'd also enjoy going for a long run (I've been wanting to run the entire Mesa Trail for a long time), then going to the movies. One boring but necessary task is to clean the garage. Now that I think about it, though, it's in my best interest to to stay on good terms with Steve, especially after his long week of travel, so maybe we'll put that off. I can't get to the 12+ bikes we have in there over all the other crap - there has to be a better solution to our garage arrangement (and by the by, if you're interested in buying a fridge, range, oven or hood, make me an offer). We'll see about all that stuff!

We're going skiing with Ryan and Sarah at Copper (or Winter Park, if the mood strikes) on Sunday. There's a 40-60% chance of snow in the high country through Sunday, so cross your fingers for powder. Hoo ha meadows!!! If I can get my act together, I'd like to make a beef stew to have for lunch that day. I'm tired of the lunch fare at Copper and would rather have something hearty and homemade. I found an easy and good looking recipe in my Earthbound Farm cookbook that I can make in my new Creuset crock pot.

Looking forward to the weekend!!! Two more hours..

The Trout Whisperer

Schivonne, Kris, Steve and I spent the weekend in Carbondale, to ski, hang out with my parents and get out of dodge. Steve and I skied Snowmass Saturday. The snow was iffy, but it was around 25 degrees all day, enough to compensate for the the lack of fresh snow, and we were still able to ski our favorite Snowmass spots - Campground, Long Shot, Cirque Headwall, Hanging Valley Wall. I had my K2 Burnin' Luvs and Steve his Volkls AC40s. It wasn't the best day for our powder skis, and it was awesome to have an excuse to take those other skis out and go fast.

Anyway, the four of us had dinner at Ella on Saturday night, where Schivonne and Kris got married in September and right next to my parent's store on Main Street in Carbondale. I think The Kitchen in Boulder and Ella are my two favorite restaurants in Colorado - simple, creative, delicious and local food with reasonably priced wines and approachable, down to earth staff. Three of us had the mixed grill special - elk sausage, rack of lamb, salsify puree, mushrooms, and huckleberry sauce - and Kris stuck with his favorite, fancy mac&cheese with truffles. I'd love to make my own sausage. All I need is a sausage maker attachment for the KitchenAid. That's going to have to wait though. I need to appreciate my Christmas kitchen gadgets before I spend more money.

Now for the best part!!! On Sunday, we went for a walk along the Roaring Fork River. The RFR is a direct tributary to the Colorado River, and the spot where we walked had a bunch of diversions, adjoining streams, riparian vegetation and wildlife. Steve had an adventure bee in his bonnet, and set off on all sorts of crazy adventures, including trout whispering (the Cesar Milan of trout - ask him about the time he caught a live trout with his hands) and crawling through tunnels. It was all hilarious. The two videos below are of Steve both whispering to trout (in addition to the picture at right), and crawling through a random tunnel in search for the lost ark (hang in there with the tunnel video - it's funny).

Hoo Ha Meadows

Steve and Scott hiking up to our favorite powder stash at Copper Mountain. No hoo ha's allowed.

Skis

I've never skied on Line skis, but Scott does and loves them. I have the K2 Nancy skis, which I don't think they even make anymore. I love them, and actually did so much research to decide on buying them, but sometimes I think that these Line Pandora skis would be a better fit:

"Introducing one of the world’s fattest women’s specific powder skis. Its wide platform, deep sidecut and light and lively feel makes it one of the most fun and functional skis you’ll ever ride in the powder, and everywhere else on the hill. The Pandora is a true work of art from the beautifully painted graphics, to the first of its kind, real embroidered logo, threaded right into the top of the ski. The only thing that will look better is the fresh tracks you’ll be laying down on your next powder day."

Either that's really good marketing, or I just really want those skis. The Nancy's are awesome - they glide through powder, turns are easy in powder and you don't have to break your ankle to shift, they are fun on groomers (although not as fast as my Burnin' Luvs - I can't keep up with Steve and Scott on the straight shots) even though I can't carve as much. I think the Lines would be better for all mountain. The graphics are nice, but I don't care about that stuff. I guess I'm happy with the Nancys - I should continue to be happy with them, as I don't think there's too much wrong with them, in terms of my needs. Next time I'll get a bit of a wider ski underfoot, a bit stiffer, and something best suited for all mountain. Damn it grasshopper!

http://www.lineskis.com/product/pandora